Teenager saved suicidal woman on his way home from Scouts by hanging on to her legs for half an hour

And one quick-thinking teenager proved he could think on his feet by saving the life of a suicidal woman as he walked home from a Scouts meeting.

Jonathan Cook, 17, saw the woman climbing from her car onto the railings of a bridge. When he realised that she was trying to jump, he raced over to try to persuade her to change her mind.

Jonathan spent half an hour holding on to the woman preventing her from jumping before help arrived. He richly deserves the award. He was a true heroRoyal Humane Society

Finally, he took hold of the woman’s legs to prevent her from throwing herself off the bridge and held on for half an hour until help arrived.

Jonathan, who has since received and award for his bravery, described how he saw the woman acting strangely on the A4074 bridge in Oxford at around 10pm on May 20th.

He said: "I was on the bridge and I saw a car drive up towards the other end of the bridge and I did not think much of it. "I saw someone get out of the car and I saw her climb up onto the front of her car and at this point I was unnerved as to what was going on.

"She was leaning over the high railings and I just broke into a bit of a run. I ran up to her and tried talking to her to get her down but she was telling me to pretend I had not seen her so I just grabbed her legs and refused to let go."

Jonathan, who lives in Sandford-on-Thames and is a student at St Gregory the Great Catholic School, managed to get his phone out of his pocket and telephone his parents for help.

However, it took half an hour before he could get through to them.

He said: "My parents came dashing round the corner and my stepmum and I managed to get her down from the car.

"Our neighbours rang the police who managed to coax her to come with them. Initially she did not want to go and said she was fine to drive back home herself. I was so relieved when I saw her safe, I just could not let her go ahead with it."

Jonathan was not able to find out the woman's name or where she lived, and has not had contact with her since. He has now been honoured with a Royal Humane Society certificate of commendation for his actions.

Dick Wilkinson, secretary of the Royal Humane Society, said: "Put simply Jonathan was the right person in the right place at the right time. And thank goodness he was.

"If he had not been there and the woman had succeeded in jumping it's impossible to say what sort of chaos and carnage might have resulted.

"Jonathan spent half an hour holding on to the woman preventing her from jumping before help arrived. He richly deserves the award. He was a true hero."

Jonathan was recommended for the award by family friend Thomas Ackland, who said: “If it was not for his bravery a woman would be dead. Jonathan stopped this, plain and simple."